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Please vote for the Cubs #35 prospect (serious votes only, please!). Please post your rationale below.

If someone convinces you that someone else should be higher, please feel free to change your vote anytime between now and Saturday.

For this vote, you should select the players you feel should be #36, #37 and #38. If we end up with multiple players having similar vote totals at the end of the voting period, there will be a run-off with just those players.

Results so far:

#1: Javier Baez
#2: Jorge Soler
#3: Albert Almora
#4: Arodys Vizcaino
#5: Dan Vogelbach
#6: Brett Jackson
#7: Juan Paniagua
#8: Christian Villanueva
#9: Dillon Maples
#10: Josh Vitters
#11: Pierce Johnson
#12: Junior Lake
#13: Jeimer Candelario
#14: Duane Underwood
#15: Matt Szczur
#16: Arismendy Alcantara
#17: Ronald Torreyes
#18: Marco Hernandez
#19: Gioskar Amaya
#20: Alberto Cabrera
#21: Logan Watkins
#22: Rob Whitenack
#23: Barrett Loux
#24: Ben Wells
#25: Paul Blackburn
#26: Hector Rondon
#27: Tony Zych
#28: Jae-Hoon Ha
#29: Trey McNutt
#30: Steve Bruno
#31: Michael Jensen
#32: Trey Martin
#33: Tayler Scott
#34: Jose Arias
#35: Ryan McNeil

First two were easy for me, Nick Struck and Jose Rosario, and I've hammered out reasons why I've been voting them since 29/30, so the short version:

Struck - upper level arm with some life on the fastball, and a capable 3 pitch arsenal. Young, with some production record. Ceiling isn't high (5th starter), and there are some command issues, plus physically, he just isn't a big boy. That said, he's got 3 decent-solid pitches. He's ahead of Loosen/Carreno (two guys with fairly similar ceilings), and has more juice on the fastball. I wonder about him in the pen.

Rosario - Had he stayed healthy (and continued to perform the way he did), he was a solid top 30 guy, if not top 25. Electric fastball, flashes on the breaking ball. Ceiling as a starter is probably a mid-rotation type, but the betting money is still probably the bullpen for him. But it's an intriguing asset, and we're in the mid-late 30's. Unless the injury is serious, it seems reasonable to get him on soon.

______

I debated the last one quite a bit, and I didn't really like my decision. But for now, I'm going Marcus Hatley. Chances are pretty good that he'll see the bigs in his career, and he does have late inning potential. There are far more fascinating guys, but a guy like Penalver is so far away and has some offensive questions. Austin Reed is a nice looking arm, but let's see how he holds up mechanically and he's far away. Loosen/Carreno dont' have the ceiling, and the upper level lefties aren't necessarily safer than Hatley. Golden was a thought, but a lot of unknowns there.

Edit: Whoa, those were totally not the right numbers for Jay Jackson. I must've been looking at something I scratched out earlier in the season. His pen numbers ended up being 46.1 ip, 42 H's, 23 BB's, 24 R's, 6 HR's, 45 K's, not good, not horrible. 13 R's came in 3 outings that lasted a total 3.2 innings. He's just not a starter, but I still wonder about him as a pen arm.

Penalver
Hatley
Rosario

I went with Rosario, Dunston Jr and Golden. Reasoning for Rosario previously mentioned but in summary, before injury, I had him around 25 and since it doesn't sound like a serious injury, I don't see why he shouldn't be here. Dunston Jr struggled at Boise but did fine at Mesa, where he probably should have started the season. I definitely am going with ceiling over those guys closer to the big leagues.

I kept thinking someone was missing, but didn't think too hard on it. I might've considered him for the 3rd slot here,. Raisin, if we do another one, could you toss Pin-Chieh Chen in there? I keep pondering whether or not he might surprise (not necessarily breakout, as his offensive skillset is still a bit limited to imagine some big-time season) in the FSL, out of the MWL.

Also, given the tidbit posted by Raisin about Frandy de la Rosa, I wouldn't mind seeing him added. There is very little about him out there and he is really, really young, but he was our second highest Int. FA bonus last year (behind Paniagua, if you don't count the Cubans), and the reports I've read seem intriguing.

Sure.

I'll bring up Kyle Hendricks again to be on the list.

Tim Saunders?

Second Tim Saunders

Cal, thanks much for posting that stuff about the INT signings. Interesting to get the names for the $80-120K guys. Not sure how to read any of that, but perhaps a $100K guy now is in the same class that a $250K guy would have been a year ago.

Glad to hear positive buzz on DeLaRosa. I guess McLeod really liked what he saw before July 2 and really pushed to get him. Maybe thought he was kind of an Almora-style guy (not nearly so in talent or caliber, of course....); a guy without fabulous speed or great BP power, but who has a coordination and feel/head for the game, and who can hit. Not sure how much ceiling, but true-blue hitters are hard to find. Hopefully he really will hit.

Will also add de la Rosa, Hendricks and Saunders for next round.

Thanks Rasin

I picked Reed and Wilson Contreras. Partly for the sake of variety. If Reed can throw 98, and Hyde thinks he might be a breakout guy, then I think he's interesting to break into the top 35. And I think he's going to be starting or piggy-backing this spring.

Contreras, his coach or manager at Boise compared him defensively to Pudge Rodriguez. hyperbole, of course, but sounds like he might have some elite defensive potential. Not like Clevenger converting. The organization stinks for catchers, and a good defensive catcher isn't required to hit a ton. He didn't improve much as a hitter last summer, but I could imagine focus being on the catching, not the hitting. Perhaps his bat will step up.